Worldwide cloud infrastructure services spending grew 34 percent or $13.6 billion to $53.5 billion in Q4 2021.
The leading cloud service providers in Q4 2021 are Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud collectively grew 45 percent, to account for a combined 64 percent share of customer spend.
For full-year 2021, total cloud infrastructure services spending grew 35 percent to US$191.7 billion, up from US$142.0 billion in 2020, according to Canalys Research.
“Cloud services are well positioned for individual developers and organizations looking to enter the metaverse,” said Canalys Research Analyst Blake Murray. “Compute will be in high demand in virtual and augmented reality environments, while storage, machine learning, IoT and data analytics will be essential to support operations such as digital twinning, modeling and interactivity in the metaverse.”
Amazon Web Services (AWS) led the cloud infrastructure services market in Q4 2021, accounting for 33 percent of total spend. AWS grew 40 percent on an annual basis. Meta, previously Facebook, recently chose AWS as a cloud service provider.
AWS also announced key customer wins across retail, healthcare and financial services and emphasized a key agreement with Nasdaq to migrate markets to AWS to become a cloud-based exchange.
Microsoft Azure had a 22 percent market share and was the second largest provider. Microsoft Azure grew 46 percent. Microsoft Azure has prepared Digital Twins to model physical objects, Azure IoT to connect physical assets to the cloud and Azure Maps, an indoor private mapping service. Microsoft Azure achieved key wins in healthcare and financial services.
Google Cloud was the third largest provider and grew 63 percent to account for 9 percent of the market. The Google for Startups Cloud Program expanded support for investor-backed startups and won key customers, including some in the virtual reality space. Google Cloud announced a dedicated $1 billion five-year investment across Africa to support digital transformation efforts.
